Go Faster with Ford Motorcars

Last week The London Journalist's Richi Leonard had the pleasure of driving the magnificent Ford Mustang 5.0 V8 GT as well as it’s mean little brother, the Focus RS, (which incidentally comes with a drift button) at the exclusive 'Go Faster' event organised by the Ford Motor Company in Essex.

The London Journalist's Richi Leonard at the 'Go Faster' Ford Motor Company experience

The Go Faster track event takes place on a mock up film set with fully functional editing suits, studios and an outside stunt track. It is designed for Ford fanatics to have a fun day out and experience the Focus and Mustang by pushing the cars to their limit whilst learning 4 classic movie driving stunts, the power slide, the j-turn, drifting and the infamous shake down.

After an exhilarating morning being trained by a number of highly skilled and experienced professional stunt drivers, I got a chance to put my newly found driving skills to the test on the track as a getaway driver and was filmed to star in a mock movie trailer for a heist movie called Go Faster. Ford have pulled out all the stops with a cast of actors, directors and film crew on onsite, which I worked with shooting scenes on a mock up film set and track.

Upon myself leaving the event a team edited the trailer in which I starred and I had already received a copy of it by the time I had arrived home, along with a promo poster for the fake movie. This has proved to be a nice souvenir of the day which I can keep and show off to friends, pretending that I am in the next big heist movie.

Prior to this joyful experience at Ford, I had never been lucky enough to drive the new Mustang, which had been a burning ambition of mine since the legendary American muscle car was launched into the UK back in late 2015. I was not disappointed. The aggressive 5.0 litre V8 which produces 435 horsepower is truly electrifying upon acceleration and considering the size along with the fact the car weighs nearly 2 tons, it handles intuitively and with delicate precision. The noise of the engine sounds divine and burbles notes of what could only be described as a Beethoven symphony. This combination of power and nimbleness makes the stang an obvious choice for track driving, especially as it looks like it just fell out of Hollywood.

Ford have kept faithful to the Mustang roots with the styling. The body work on the GT remains with the bold aggressive look of its predecessors and the sophisticated interior nods cleverly to the 1960s original, whilst remaining fresh and modern with every gadget you could need. Although it’s owners spend most of their lives in the petrol station as it drinks more than a drunk on a stag do in Brighton, this car has serious likability. Like many, I have been a fan of the Mustang for years. Since the first time I saw the 1965 movie Bullet, with Steve McQueen, burning around the streets of San Francisco, I have wanted to own one and I still do, perhaps more so than ever. This new Mustang is as cool as ever and lives up to its movie legacy, even if I did only drive it round an industrial estate, in Dagenham.

However, let me not undersell the Focus RS here. The almost practical hatch back has a 2.3 litre EcoBoost engine which is designed for low-end responsiveness and is highly powerful, with top end revving maxing out at a whopping 6900 rpm. To say it stands it’s ground on a track is an understatement as this finely tuned up family car, packs some serious punch. I cannot emphasise the fact enough that this gem drifts at the touch of a button which is neatly positioned next to the gear stick. Just add some serious throttle and the angry little Focus drifts like there is no tomorrow, causing a rush that could fulfil the desires of even the most insane of adrenaline junkies. The drifting mode on this car is exceptional and quite the feature, it makes the Focus a very fun toy indeed. So if your ambition is screaming down the road, destroying tyres, in a car that is good for the school run as well as competitive on a track, then the Focus RS could be a winner. I left Fords track in deep contemplation, considering what life would like without actually ever owning one.

For decades’ Ford have been known to build sports cars that can compete with those at double the cost. Nothing has changed. The Mustang GT and Focus RS are of credit to that fact and proof that Fords working man sports car legacy is living on well into the 21st century.

Much like the innovations of their sports cars, the idea of the movie making event is also highly innovative. This type of driving experience may be the future for car manufactures to showcase their newest and most exceptional automotive achievements. Traditional test driving could be a thing of the past, as surely the best way to fully understand if you want to a new car would be to kick the hell out of one first.

So overall the Go Faster event was an enlightening few hours into the world of movie making, stunt driving as well as an opportunity to sample Fords most recent automotive triumphs.

Richi Leonard

The event goes live to the public from the 13th-22 of October and tickets are the reasonable price of £99 However, be prepared, you will leave with wanting to buy a Focus RS.

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